大学英语专业精读U3

Lesson ThreeText A Message of the LandPart One 课文翻译第三课土地的信息1.是的，这就是我们的稻田。

它们曾属于我的父母和祖先们。

这片土地已有三百多年的历史。

我是家中惟一的女儿，因此由我留在家中陪伴父母，直至他们去世。

我的三个兄弟结婚以后就搬到了各自妻子的房子里。

我的丈夫住在我家里。

伊沙恩的风俗如此。

结婚时我18岁，丈夫19岁。

我们生有6个小孩，其中两个在婴儿时就病死了。

其他的两个男孩和两个女孩，在我们有钱为他们买牛仔裤时，就离开了这个家。

我们的长子在曼谷的一个富人家中做园丁，而后一个职业介绍所把他送往国外工作。

我的另一个儿子离我们也非常远。

2．我们的两个女儿，一个在曼谷的一家纺织厂做工，一个在一家商店里找到了一份工作。

有时她们会回家来看看我们，住一些日子，然后又各自离开。

她们经常会寄给我们一些钱，告诉我们她们的工作很好。

但我知道这不完全是真的。

她们有时会被欺侮，这令我心痛不已。

而我的丈夫对此却比我安心多了。

他总是不闻不问的，保持容忍、沉默的态度，只关心自己的生活。

3．虽然孩子们常年不在家，但他们永远是我的儿女。

或许天意要把他们送到远离我们的地方。

我们的田地面积很小，日渐贫瘠，像我们一样年迈衰老，筋疲力竭。

但是我和丈夫仍然耕作在这片土地上。

当雨水充足时，土壤耕起来并不困难，但在干旱的年度里，不仅是犁就连我们的心都要破碎了。

4．不，我和丈夫并没有变多少，而我们的小村庄却发生了巨大的变化。

体现在哪些方面呢?仅仅十年前，我们还可以进行物物交易，但现在你得全部用钞票买东西。

多年以前，你可以叫你的邻居帮你砌房、割稻或挖井。

现在，除非你付钱给他们，他们才会那样做。

塑料制品取代了村里的手工制品。

人们过去用上好的竹片做东西，但现在却不是这样了。

塑料袋扔得小村到处都是。

商店突然四处林立，卖的尽是些彩色塑料制品和对我们毫无用处的货物。

年轻人涌向乡镇和城市，留下我们这群老家伙在家种田。

我知道，他们的想法与我们不同，说我们老人是守旧的。

我一生中从未去理发店或是去涂唇修甲。

我的粗糙的手指和脚趾是用来在泥泞的稻田中工作的，而不是为了好看。

如今女孩们穿上牛仔裤，看上去男不男女不女的，但她们认为这就是时髦。

为什么她们愿意卖掉猪和水牛而只是为了能买一条牛仔裤呢?在我年轻的时代，如果我的裤子穿得和她们现在这样，是会遭到天打雷劈的。

5. 我知道，时代已经变了，但有些东西是不应该变的。

我们应该每天施食给和尚，定期去烧香拜佛，而现在年轻人往往让老人们代办这些事情。

这真让人感到羞愧!6. 哎呀，几天前我听到一个小男孩竟然对着他的妈妈大喊大叫呢?如果这种事发生在我年轻的那个时候，全村子的人都会谴责这样一个讨人厌的儿子，而他的爸爸肯定会痛打他一顿。

7. 对于我来说，我是不会变的，就算我愿意，我也不可能改变。

我幸福吗?我从没有问这样的问题。

生活只是简单地在继续。

是的，我这衣衫褴褛的老骨头仍然能起早贪黑地种田和割稻。

疾病、伤痛、困苦和贫穷一直是我生活中的一部分。

对此我没有半点怨言。

8. ‘农夫：我的妻子错了。

我的眼睛真的看见了——看到了远多于应该看到的东西。

我的耳朵真的听到了——听到了不仅仅是对我有好处的东西。

我没有对我所知的东西发表看法，那是因为我知道的东西太多了。

比如，我知道贪婪、愤怒和淫欲是一切罪恶的源泉。

9. 我对我们的土地和自己的生活状况感到满意，但我十分同情我的妻子。

这么多年来我一直强加沉默于她，但她却从没抱怨过什么。

10. 我想有许多子孙生活在我周围，但是我的孩子们受城市和异国的吸引而离开了，而且似乎他们永远也不会再回来居住了。

当我死后，这些稻田应该传给谁呢?几百年来这片带状土地一直属于我的家族。

我熟悉其中的每一寸土壤。

我的孩子们在这片土地上长大，他们曾在上面抓青蛙、捕泥蟹和采野花。

但这片土地并不能使他们留下或是把他们召唤回来。

当每个人都有一条牛仔裤时，他们就像长了翅膀的鸟一样飞走了。

11. 幸运的是，我的妻子仍然和我在一起，而且我们两个仍然很强健。

伤痛随时问而痊愈。

疾病来了又去，我们也重新恢复了健康。

我从未想过要离开这片土地。

当我把手指伸进土壤里插秧，一边昕着妻子哼着“老伴，假如我先你而去了，我会化作一片云为你遮阳”的时候，这湿土地给人的感觉无以名状。

十一月里稻子成熟时，田野香气怡人。

在凉爽的微风吹拂中，稻浪像金子般闪闪发光。

是的，我热爱着这片土地，我多么希望其中的一个孩子有一天会回来居住，为我生下孙子，然后我就可以把土地的秘密信电传递给他们．Part Two Teaching LectureI. Word Study:1. barter: v. / n.exchange (goods, property, etc) for other goods, etc without using money1-1 barter sth for sth: 用…交换….e.g. barter wheat for machinery1-2 barter with sb for sth: 从某人处换得….e.g. The prisoners tried to barter with the guards for their freedom.1-3 barter awaye.g. We will never barter away our honor. 我们绝不拿荣誉做交易.2. condemn: express strong disapproval 谴责2-1 be publicly / strongly condemned 受到公开地或强烈的谴责e.g. Immoral act is publicly condemned more often.2-2 be condemned / sentenced to (death / three years in jail)3. exhausted – exhauste.g. Shopping all day exhausted us. 使…疲惫e.g. I have exhausted my money. 用完e.g. Her emotions were exhausted. 耗尽e.g. All of us were exhausted after a long run.e.g. This is an exhausting game.4. fashionable / fashion / old-fashionede.g. He was behaving in a strange fashion. (方式样子)e.g. She was dressed in the latest Paris fashion.4-1 after a fashion 勉强不太好/ after the fashion 仿照e.g. He played tennis after a fashion.e.g. In the later seventies of last century some young people wore long hair after thefashion of Beetles.4-2 be in fashion (come into fashion) 正时兴/ be in the fashion 赶时髦e.g. The computer game named Gardening is in fashion now.e.g. The young rather than the old like being in the fashion.4-3 out of fashion / out of date / old-fashioned 过时的5. greed – greedy – greedilye.g. One‟s greed for money will lead him to making crimes. (贪婪)e.g. To be too greedy for delicious food makes you fat. （嘴馋）e.g. A student who is greedy for knowledge must be diligent. 渴望（得到）/ 迫切需要6. heal: to become healthy again / recover form the wound 愈合治愈e.g. This medicine may help to heal the wound.e.g. The wound will be healed soon (wrong ) / The wound will heal soon. (right)不用被动7. ripen / ripe / maturee.g. The apples have ripened.e.g. The apples haven been ripe.e.g. He is very mature for his age.e.g. He has matured into a shrewd businessman.8. tend – tendency8-1 tend to do sth: 容易…往往会…常常…e.g. It tends to get cold in the winter here.e.g. People tend to think that the problem will never affect them.8-2 tend to / toward / tend west 趋向倾向向某个方向e.g. His views tend toward the extreme. 他的观点趋于偏激e.g. The wind is tending to the south.e.g. Take the road that tends east.8-3 tend to sb 照料照看8-4 have a tendency to do sth 总是…爱…容易…e.g. My wife has a tendency to talk too much. 爱唠叨e.g. He has a tendency to forget sth.Pira Sudham is a leading English language writer in Thailand (which is an agricultural country mostly covered with plateaus and hilly areas.). In 1942, he was born to a poor family in rural Esarn, northeast of the country, spending his childhood in the rice fields on the Korat Plateau, helping his parents and tending a herd of buffaloes (水牛) until he went to Bangkok (曼谷/泰国首都) at the age of fourteen to be a servant to monks in a Buddhist temple (佛教寺庙) where he was also admitted to a school.To support himself through high school and the first year at the Faculty of Arts (文学院), Chulalongkorn University, he sold souvenirs to tourists until he won a New Zealand (新西兰[大洋洲]) government scholarship to study English literature at Auckland (奥克兰/新西兰港市a very famous port city) University and later at Victoria University, Wellington (惠灵顿/新西兰). His writings began to appear in literary publications in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the United States before his first book, (2)Tales of Thailand was published in 1983, followed by (3)People of Esarn in 1987. He has lived for over ten years in Australia and the United Kingdom, where he wrote (4)Monsoon Country (1988), and its sequel(续集), (5)The Force of Karma (2002).Pira Sudham is the Thai author writing in English who was nominated (提名) for the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature. His novel and short stories provide insights into (表现了) Thai life, particularly that of rural northeast Thailand.Our text …Message of the Land‟is adapted from “Farmer and His Wife”in (1)Guidebook to Better Reading Series published in 1982.(Kingdom of Thailand 泰国Thai or Thailand in short)III. What’s the type of writing ?Our present text is an essay based on an interview between the writer and a farmer and his wife. Such style of writing is colloquial (口语化的). The language is straightforward. The sentences are generally short. When we read the text, we feel as if we were sitting face to face with the old couple, listening to their stories and experiences, sharing their joys and worries and sorrows.IV. Textual StructurePart I (Para. 1-7): Wife is interviewedA.(Para. 1-3) : Wife‟s introduction of her familyB.(Para. 4-7) : Wife‟s introduction of the village‟s changePart II (Para. 8-11): Husband is interviewedV. Comprehensive questions on the Text:1. What‟s the secret message of the land? (history / culture / tradition / life / happiness / sorrow etc.(The text shows how the development of modern economics hits traditional lifestyle and traditional values to which the old people are sentimentally attached in the rural area of Thailand.) conflicts between new and old society / between new generation and old generation)3. Try to find out in the text to show the different life attitude and values between the old and young, past and present? (Para. 4/5/6)VI. Listening to the tape of the text.Part Three Details of the Text:(Para. 1-3) : Wife’s introduction of her familyPara. 11). The land passed down by her forefathers had a long history, didn‟t it?1) A traditional custom was in fashion then in her hometown. What is that? (thebridegroom should come to live the bride‟s home after they got married)2)How many brothers did she have? (three)3)How many children did she have? (four)4)When did their children leave home to work far away? (when they grew up)1.…it was I who stayed with my parents till they died. (Para 1)More examples:1-1 It is I that am … (right)1-2 It is I that is … (right)1-3 It is I who am … (right)1-4 It is me who is … (right)1-5 It is I who is (wrong )1-6 It is me who am (wrong)2. My husband moved into our house as is the way with us in Esarn. (Para 1)--- (When we got married) my husband came to live in our house. It was the tradition here in Esarn that the bridegroom should come to live the bride‟s family.“As” here introduces a defining relative clause, and functions as its subject, representing what is stated in the main clause.More examples:2-1 As is known to all, Taiwan belongs to China.2-2 As it is known, he is a good boy. (right)2-3 As is known that he is good by. (wrong: …as‟ into it)2-4 He is so lovely a young man that we all like．(wrong: ‘that into ‘as’)2-5 He is such a lovely young man as we all like him．(wrong: ‘as’into ‘that’)2-6 He bought the same dictionary as I had the day before．(right)2-7 We drove out of the town by the same road as we had entered by. (wrong: …as‟ into …that‟)2-8 The writer has written quite a few books now, as his parents didn't expect．(wrong: …as‟into …which‟‘as‟是不能引导否定的非限制性定语从句的)3. Two died in infancy from sickness. (Par 1)3-1 die of 因患…而死亡/ …死了die of hanger / die of boredom3-2 die in 在…中死亡3-3 die from 因…致死/ 由于…而死4. The rest, two boys and two girls, went away as soon as we could afford to buy jeans for them. (Para 1)--- Our other children ---two boys and two girls left as soon as we had the money to buy them jeans.(as soon as they were gown up.)4-1 the rest (of sth.)e.g. One of the books is quite difficult; the rest are easy.e.g. The rest of money is saved in the bank.4-2 to afford sth./to do sth.--- to have enough money to buy or to do sth.can / could be able + afford sth / to do sthe.g. They walked because they couldn‟t afford (to take) taxi.e.g. I mustn‟t annoy my boss because I can‟t afford to lose my job.Para. 21)How often do they (her daughters) come to see her ? (sometimes)2)What‟s the white lie given by her daughters to her?3)Why do her daughters do so? (because they don‟t want to their parents to worry forthemselves)4)How did she feel when she knew the truth? (her daughters got bullied and insulted) (L4 and 5)5)What attitude did she think her husband had toward the news about her children‟sproblems?(It didn‟t make her husband sad and he only cared about his own life, she thought)1. They come home to see u s now and then,… and then they are off again. (Para 2)--- They come home to see us from time to time, stay with us for a few days, and then leave again.1-1 now and then: from time to time; now and again; occasionallynow and then: now and again; occasionallyhere and there: everywhereups and downs: alternate good and bad luck盛衰, 沉浮the ins and outs: the details and complexities (of sth) 详情；细节2. … and tell us that are doing well. I know this is always true. (Para 2)---. although they always tell us that everything is fine with them, I know they also have difficulties and problems, such as “they get bullied and insulted”. They just do not tell us because they do not want us to worry.3.…it is like a knife piercing my heart. （Para 2）--- (When I hear about their hardships,) I feel very sad.Figures of Speech (修辞手段) --- simile (明喻) / metaphor (隐喻)A simile is a brief comparison, usually introduced by the prepos ition “like” or the conjunction“as”, and etc. A simile consists of two parts: tenor（要旨) and vehicle (手段). The tenor is the primary subject; the vehicle is the thing to which the main subject is compared.A metaphor is also a comparison. The difference is that a simile compares things explicitly(明确的) --- that is , it states literally that X is like Y. A metaphor compares things implicitly (含蓄的). Read literally, it does not state that things are alike; it says that they are the same thing, that they are identical.e.g. Sometimes, they get bullied and insulted, and it is like knife piercing my heart.e.g. It is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year, and like us getting old and exhausted. (Para 3)e.g. When each of them has a pair of jeans, they are off like birds on the wing. (Para 10) e.g. He has a heart of stone. 他有一颗铁石心肠。